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Halo 3 was ahead of its time
- Thread starter Cranzor
- Start date
paragonpro
Banned
Halo 3 is my favorite halo title to this day, not only because i love the capaign but also because of how much fun me and my friends had creating different types of games and stipulations in multiplayer
I was there. The atmosphere was crazy.
It was also my first Stinkles sighting.
I joined GAF because of 1up news posts sourcing it for news, Stinkles being on here, and because of the hype building around Halo 3 on GAF! (My tenth anniversary is coming up too!) Halo 3 was rough in the multiplayer department (balancing, crappy achievements like Two for One!, and crap playlist management that was made worse by Microsoft's meddling) but I have many many great memories from it and a million Halo 3 OT posts!!
Jonneh3003
Banned
I wholeheartedly agree. I'm playing Halo 3 right now and it's still one of the most well crafted shooters ever conceived. Every single aspect of Halo 3's design is polished to a shimmering gleam, each segment of the campaign constantly tops the last until it ends in an explosive finale.
The multiplayer balances map memorisation with weapon balance expertly, it's something 343 have struggled to quite understand about Halo.
In fact 343's issue with Halo is that they focus on Spartans. Throughtout the duration of Halo 3, Chief is almost always leading a pack of UNSC soldiers. He isn't a super hero, he's a leading member of the army. Neither the story nor gameplay revolves around being a Spartan, it's just an excuse for why Chief's health regenerates and why his melees are so powerful. It's not about being able to hover or glide or cause a mini earthquake, it's about a man who's good with guns.
Nothing showcases this more than Halo 3 ODST, a game that people love because you feel vulnerable. It isn't about being a super hero, much like Halo 1-3. It's about surviving, finding guns, finding ammo and being good with a gun. Halo 3 ODST is so good because it isn't actually that different to the orginal trilogy at all, you're just playing as a weaker guy.
In Halo 5 even the ODST's are super heroes, it's all about spartans and "playing like a spartan" where as that was never the case with Halo 1-3. Halo 3 was ahead of its time and it is still ahead of 343's efforts. Doom showed us that we don't need to follow modern genre refinements to be good, Halo doomed itself when it tried to play catch up with the industry. Combat Evolved and Halo 2 changed the industry, Halo 4 and 5 tried to play catch up and they failed.
The multiplayer balances map memorisation with weapon balance expertly, it's something 343 have struggled to quite understand about Halo.
In fact 343's issue with Halo is that they focus on Spartans. Throughtout the duration of Halo 3, Chief is almost always leading a pack of UNSC soldiers. He isn't a super hero, he's a leading member of the army. Neither the story nor gameplay revolves around being a Spartan, it's just an excuse for why Chief's health regenerates and why his melees are so powerful. It's not about being able to hover or glide or cause a mini earthquake, it's about a man who's good with guns.
Nothing showcases this more than Halo 3 ODST, a game that people love because you feel vulnerable. It isn't about being a super hero, much like Halo 1-3. It's about surviving, finding guns, finding ammo and being good with a gun. Halo 3 ODST is so good because it isn't actually that different to the orginal trilogy at all, you're just playing as a weaker guy.
In Halo 5 even the ODST's are super heroes, it's all about spartans and "playing like a spartan" where as that was never the case with Halo 1-3. Halo 3 was ahead of its time and it is still ahead of 343's efforts. Doom showed us that we don't need to follow modern genre refinements to be good, Halo doomed itself when it tried to play catch up with the industry. Combat Evolved and Halo 2 changed the industry, Halo 4 and 5 tried to play catch up and they failed.
Shrennin
Didn't get the memo regarding the 14th Amendment
Still really bummed how Bungie innovated and lead console multiplayer design, then forgot it all for Destiny.
Hoping D2 launches with a more extensive MP suite, but I doubt it.
Their community engagement remains good in other ways, though. They constantly feature players in their weekly posts, and focus on lots of community activities and achievements.
The Destiny Companion App is similar to the Bungie website for Halo, but other than that... yeah.. what made Destiny exciting initially was Bungie's multiplayer expertise and vision and then the extensive campaign/co-op promises on top of that. It was set to become one of the greatest games of all time instead of a disappointing (albeit still good, but just good) game.
Destiny 2 will hopefully remedy this. I hope. :/
Still really bummed how Bungie innovated and lead console multiplayer design, then forgot it all for Destiny.
Hoping D2 launches with a more extensive MP suite, but I doubt it.
Their community engagement remains good in other ways, though. They constantly feature players in their weekly posts, and focus on lots of community activities and achievements.
This, this, so very this. You got so much value in Hal 3 and Reach. Then Destiny comes around and it's as if getting in bed with the devil changed all that.
Hatefilled Vengeance
Member
Doing the "Vidmaster Challenge: Annual" achievement with my brother and friends is easily one of my favorite gaming memories.
Doominated
Member
I can't possibly explain how much theatre and forge mode changed my expectations for games going forward. I expected at least theatre mode out of pretty much every shooter from then on and was so upset that it didn't become a standard feature.
Barrel Cannon
Member
Theater and Forge should be in way more games. I get that devs smoke and mirrors to hide stuff and it won't work with every engine..... doesn't stop me from wanting it. Reach is IMO the most technically impressive 360 game(Horizon/Crysis2/3 is up there as well) for being able to do all it does and still have it all viewable in theater mode.
SatansReverence
Hipster Princess
veloxStrix
Banned
Red reticule range. The range where your guns have the most aim assist and projectile magnetism.
Edit: Forgot to update the page apparently.
Old Gimlet Eyes
Member
The 4 player coop was pretty huge at the time.
snoopeasystreet
Member
Fantastic game. Easily the best halo. Playing 5 now and neither the single player or multiplayer come close.
343 are in a weird place where they fundamentally don't understand what made halo interesting but aren't confident enough to fully break convention and do their own thing.
It's very frustrating because you can see the talent at the studio but they just seem like their wasting their abilities on poor foundations.
343 are in a weird place where they fundamentally don't understand what made halo interesting but aren't confident enough to fully break convention and do their own thing.
It's very frustrating because you can see the talent at the studio but they just seem like their wasting their abilities on poor foundations.
Yeah that game had endless features. Like damn
Blam
Member
I mean it's sorta here with the Halo Online mod. (ElDewrito)
Jonneh3003
Banned
Halo 5 feels like a mishmash of ideas, the advertising for instance seems to be for an entirely different plot. 343's main issue is focusing on Spartans. In the original trilogy Master Chief was just a guy in a big suit of armor, he wasn't a super hero.
MC was always a superhero, he is after all a super soldier. The difference is that we happened to experience the epic journey first hand. The story arch concluded with Halo 3. To this day, I still don't get the point of Halo 4&5. They do nothing to enrich the character or add to the mythos.
I think Halo 2 was even more ahead of its time but Halo 3 sure was as well.
I don't know what happened with game development since then. It's not a 343 problem because other studios are doing this more and more but every since Reach, every single Halo game has launched with less features and content than Halo 3.
I don't know what happened with game development since then. It's not a 343 problem because other studios are doing this more and more but every since Reach, every single Halo game has launched with less features and content than Halo 3.
Old Gimlet Eyes
Member
Halo 1, 2, 3 made us see what our consoles were capable of with features we didn't even have at the time. Too bad it's not like that anymore.
$$$$
Daddy Microsoft gotta milk that cow.
It's hard to blame 343 for the games being completely soulless when literally the only reason they exist is to drain existing fans for as much as they can before the franchise dies forever.
They are empty and devoid of passion. Designed by a committee of executives, outsourced, and assembly - lined. It's a shame.